


life on mars

by heart_inmyhand



Series: hiding in your hands [1]
Category: We Are The Tigers - Allen
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, hints of backstory for eva and farrah, they talk about alcohol briefly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:07:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25554082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heart_inmyhand/pseuds/heart_inmyhand
Summary: an old friend helps give Farrah a new perspective, and maybe some new hope.
Relationships: Farrah & Eva Sanchez (We Are The Tigers)
Series: hiding in your hands [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1869427
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	life on mars

**Author's Note:**

> so I love this musical sm and I've been working on this for a while. Also, Riley got caught in the act so everyone lived and Mattie didn't go to jail because it's my au so I make the rules :)

Eva wasn’t really sure why they were having a team sleepover, knowing what had happened at the last one. Plus, the school board had asked they only ever meet on school property. Cairo had assured everyone that it was just a group of friends hanging out- no cheer involved. Plus, it was going to be at Annleigh’s house meaning two things:

  1. There would be adults in the house (and even if there weren’t Annleigh has a landline)
  2. They would get to see Farrah



While Chess had gotten out of the hospital a week and a half after the first sleepover, Farrah had only been released two weeks ago. Eva guessed that Cairo wanted to talk about it a bit, it had been a month and everyone was out of hospital now so it made sense. Although she hadn’t been there that night, Eva couldn’t help but feel the dread pool in her stomach as she rang the doorbell.

Eva still had yet to meet Farrah or even see what she looked like, maybe that’s why she didn’t make the connection between Annleigh’s little sister and her old friend, or maybe it was because her childhood best friend couldn’t be the same girl who had been stabbed by the high school cheer captain. No matter the reason, Eva still stood shocked as the girl she hadn’t seen in nearly two and a half years opened the door. 

Both girls stood frozen as the other girls came down to greet the newcomer, it was only when Farrah’s dad spoke up did both girls snap back to reality, “Oh, hey Sanchez!” Eva looked over at him and smiled, “Hey, Mr. Torres” Farrah moved out of the doorway to allow Eva in. Eva dropped her bag and waved at the rest of the squad before turning around with a shit-eating grin on her face.

“You” Farrah returned the smile, “Me.” Both girls promptly broke out into laughter, leaving their friends all slightly confused. Annleigh was the first to speak up, tilting her to the side slightly like a puppy,

“So you guys know each other then?”

Eva laughed as she slung her arm around Farrah’s shoulder, “We were neighbours until they moved in with you, but we lost touch because SOMEONE didn’t have a phone.” 

“Hey! Not fair!” Farrah stuck her tongue out at the girl next to her before making her way upstairs, the other following behind. Eva grabbed her bag, slipped her hand into Kate’s and followed the rest of the team up the stairs. 

“They are currently redoing my room so Farrah and I are sharing for now, sorry it’s a little cramped.” Annleigh turned around with an apologetic smile before continuing, “We can use the basement after my mum is done with work, so probably around 4.” 

The girls all settled in, the usual friendly banter bounced around the room. Kate was leaning against Eva with her feet in Chess’ lap, earning her a very dramatic eye roll from her best friend. Eva watched with a small smile as the rest of the team argued over something good-naturedly, possibly the cereal debate but she couldn’t really tell. Soon Cairo stood up, grabbing everyone’s attention.

“So, just to be clear this is not a cheer sleepover, we are hanging out as friends. That’s what this team needs to be, we can’t be divided anymore because this is a sport that requires trust and a team effort. What happened- what Riley did- was awful and we all are going to need time to heal but we can get through this together.”

Cairo gave a small smile and awkwardly sat back down as everyone gave different assurances of agreement.

“So, Cairo has feelings, who knew?”

Eva rolled her eyes at her sarcastic girlfriend, “Don’t start anything Kate” Kate threw her hands up in surrender, mumbling incoherently under her breath. Farrah snickered at the interaction, sending a knowing smile in her old friend’s direction. 

The rest of the afternoon went on as planned, the girls watched some stupid rom-con and goofed off. Chess and Farrah disappeared for a while to have a long-overdue conversation and came back with a new understanding of each other. Around 4 Annleigh’s mum had finished work and the girls were allowed to use the basement for the rest of the night.

After dinner, the couches and table had been moved to make enough room for some tumbling passes because Farrah and Eva apparently had to make everything a competition. Soon enough everyone had settled down in a mountain of pillows and blankets to watch Cheer on Netflix because Annleigh was offended that Reese had never seen it.

After a few minutes, Eva looked around, she often liked to zone out and just observe. She soon realized that Farrah wasn’t with them anymore and she couldn’t remember the girl leaving. Set on making sure the girl was okay, Eva slipped out of her girlfriend’s embrace, told the team she was getting water and headed upstairs.

As she walked towards the kitchen, a bang filled the thick silence, followed by a weak “fuck”. Eva quickly opened the door to the kitchen and glanced around the room confused before her eyes landed on Farrah sitting on the floor between the sink and the island, a hand clutching her side and a first aid box sitting in front of her.

Eva moved so she was sitting in front of Farrah, watching the girl closely. “You good there?” She moved Farrah’s hand from her side before inhaling sharply, “Shit Farrah, you're bleeding.” Farrah met her eyes and gave a watery smile, her eyes slightly glazed over. “Yeah, I’m technically not supposed to be tumbling for another week even though the stitches are out. I don’t really know why it’s bleeding though.” 

Eva shook her head before lifting up her friend’s shirt slightly, “let’s get this cleaned up and then see what’s wrong from there.” After a few minutes, the girls decided the scar had probably opened up a bit when they were tumbling. After putting a new band-aid on the wound the girls decided to leave it for now, if it bled through they would get an adult. 

Soon the girls just sat in comfortable silence, neither really wanting to move, knowing they would be questioned and this would be the last bit of quiet they would get for a while. Eva examined her friend for a moment, concern crossing her features as she noticed the girl’s gaze flickering up to a bottle of alcohol on the counter, “Farrah, no.” Her voice was soft but firm, the girl in question turned to her, tears clouding her vision. 

“It’s so hard sometimes, I just want to forget and for my head to be quiet, just for a little while, but I know I can’t go back to that. It’s just so hard.” Her voice trembled and Eva gave a small smile, pulling the younger girl into a hug.

“Do you remember when we were little, how we would get that old red wagon out and take it up to the top of the street since it was on a hill, and we would hop in and ride down?” Farrah laughed as she nodded, “We said we were going to mars.” 

“We did. Because on mars, there were no problems, no dad’s got sick, there were no wars for mom’s to go and fight in. Everything was okay. Sometimes there was so much turbulence we would fall and scrape our knees but we would get up and push through because once we got to mars everything would be okay,”

Eva paused for a minute, looking down at her younger friend. Farrah looked up at her inquiringly, obviously confused. “This is kinda like the turbulence, you want to give up because everything is a little bit shaky right now but you’re almost there Farrah, you’re almost on mars.”

Farrah looked down and her hands, fidgeting as she thought for a moment before looking up, “I don’t know who to be anymore, my friends want me to cool, to go to parties and drink and hook up with boys and that’s not fun,” Eva nodded, shifting so she could look Farrah in the eyes, “If they want you to change for them then they aren’t you’re friends Farrah.” The younger girl nodded, she sat quietly for a moment, “It’s like, everyone has always wanted me to fit into this box but everyone had different ideas of what should go in the box so I just chipped parts of myself away to make others happy, I don’t know who to be.”

“Be you, no one else can.”


End file.
